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XTbe Capture of dfort Milliam 
anb (Winv^ 

December 14 ant) 15, 1774 

BY 

Iprof. Cbarles %, ipareons 



Reprinted from Proceedings N. H. Historical Society 




/ 



THE CAPTURE OF FORT WILLIAM AND MARY, DECEMBER 
14 AND 15. \m. 



Few events in the history of New Hampshire have excited 
more interest or caused more controversy than the successful 
attack upon Fort William and Mary, in Portsmouth harbor, 
on December 14, 1774; the removal of the powder contained 
in its magazine on the same afternoon ; and the second cap- 
ture of the fort, together with the small arms and other 
stores, on the night of the following day. Too much has been 
written that is not history, and many statements concerning 
these events are generally accepted as facts which have 
had their rise in the fertile imagination of some writer. Many 
articles have appeared in the public press, but only a few 
really scholarly attempts have been made to determine the 
actual facts.' 

Throughout the 5'ear 1774 the people of Portsmouth and 
vicinity shared in full measure the unrest that was felt 
throughout the whole country. Much sympathy was expressed 
for the people of Boston, and the populace were beginning to 
show signs of resisting the odious domination of the British 
ministry. The assembly had shown a disposition to refuse to 
vote the necessary supplies and men for Fort William and 
Mary. In May a message was sent from the committee at 
Portsmouth to the committee at Boston, promising assistance 
in anything agreed upon by the colonies.'- On June 8th, 
Governor Wentworth dissolved the assembly which he had 
from time to time adjourned to prevent action toward the 
appointment of delegates to a provincial congress.^ On 
July 4, twenty-seven chests of tea had been quietly brought 
into Portsmouth. A town-meeting was immediately called, 

' An especiall)' fortunate tind was niad« in the library of Mr. Lucien Thompson of 
Durham, N. H., consisting of several early copies of the Ne-cv Hampshire Spyzwdi. 
the New Hampshire Mercury of the year 17S9, which appear to be the only known 
ones extant and which contain descriptions of the affair over the signatures of two of 
the participants. Especial acknowledgment is due for the aid which Mr. Thompson 
has rendered. 

' American Archives, by Peter Force, Vol. I, /. 337. 

' Letter of Governor Wentworth. American Archives, Vol. I./. 393 



the consignee was forced to export the tea, and the vessel 
carrying it was kept under guard, until it finally sailed for 
Halifax.^ On July 6, Governor Wentworth ordered the sheriff 
to direct the committee of correspondence, who had met to 
choose delegates for a general American congress, to disperse 
and keep the king's peace. This they did, but only to meet pri- 
vately later in a tavern where they chose delegates to assemble 
in Exeter."^ On August 29, Governor Wentworth wrote the Earl 
of Dartmouth that the assembly had met in Exeter, and adds " I 
think this Province is much more moderate than any other to 
the southward, although the spirit of enthusiasm is spread and 
requires the utmost vigilance and prudence to restrain it from 
violent excess."" Again later. Governor Wentworth reported 
the arrival of a second consignment of tea with results similar 
to the first. On November 15 he reported continued discon- 
tent throughout the province, and fears that disturbances will 
continue unless quiet is restored in Massachusetts Bay."* On 
December 2, he wrote that there is a growing unrest and a 
disposition on the part of the people to follow all the 
"Resolves of the Congress and to approve them fully." ^ 

Thus it will be seen that when Paul Revere brought his 
message on December 13, 1774, from the committee in 
Boston to Mr. Samuel Cutts of the Portsmouth committee, 
announcing that troops were to be sent to reinforce the fort, 
and bringing information, also, of the removal of the military 
stores in Rhode Island, and of the king's order in council 
prohibiting the exportation of gunpowder and military stores 
to America, the people were in a state of mind ready for 
revolt. Mr. Cutts immediately called the committee together, 
and they proceeded to plan for the capture of the powder 
upon the following day. Governor Wentworth seems to have 
had some intimation of what might happen, for he sent word 
to Captain Cochran, commanding at the fort, to be upon his 

1 Letter of Governor Wentworth to Earl of Dartmouth. American Avcliives, Vol. 

2 American Archives, Vol. 1,//. 516, 536. 
■> .■\merican Archives, Vol. I,/. 744. 
'American Archives, Vol. I./. 982. 
•'American Archives. \'ol. 1./. 1014. 

P 

A.uthor. 



guard. In Wentworth's report on the affair, however, he 
states that " before any suspicion could be had of their inten- 
tions, about four hundred men were gathered together." Cer- 
tain it is that, about twelve o'clock on Wednesday, December 
14, all secrecy ended ; for members of the committee, accom- 
panied by drum and fife, paraded the streets of Portsmouth 
and called the citizens together. By order of Governor Went- 
worth the chief justice of the province made proclamation 
that what they proposed was open rebellion against the king, 
but they did not waiver, and having finally gathered together 
a company of their townsmen, and such others as could be 
obtained from the adjoining towns of Newcastle and Rye, in 
all about four hundred men, they proceeded to Fort William 
and Mary. There they were warned by Captain Cochran not 
to enter, and were fired upon both by cannon and small arms. 
No one appears to have been injured, however, and they 
immediately stormed the fort, and easily overcame such 
resistance as the one officer and five effective men could offer. 
Having captured the fort, they proceeded to haul down the 
king's colors, and then removed all of the gunpowder in the 
magazine, with the exception of one barrel. About one hun- 
dred barrels of powder were so obtained, and these were sent 
up the Piscataqua to Durham, that same evening, with a letter 
to General Sullivan, who had not been in Portsmouth that day. 

On the following day, Thursday, December 15, 1774, a party 
of men came from Durham to Portsmouth, and, that night, 
together with other citizens, under the leadership of John Sulli- 
van, they again took the fort and carried off the lighter cannon 
and all of the small arms. On Friday, a party under command 
of Captain Nathaniel Folsom of Exeter, came to Portsmouth 
and remained on guard all day; until in the afternoon, on the 
rising tide, the arms were sent up the river. They finally 
reached Durham ; but only after many weary hours of cutting 
through the ice, which had just formed in the branch of the 
Piscataqua, which leads up to that town. 

The main details of the proceedings of the three days may 
easily be gathered from the following official documents and 
letters of the time which have fortunately been preserved to us. 



On Wednesday, December 14, 1774, Governor Wentworth 
wrote to Governor Gage as follows : ^ 

Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 
Dec. 14, 1774. 

Sir. — I have the honor to receive your Excellency's letter of 
the 19th inst. with the letter from. the Secretary of State, which 
were both delivered to me on Monday evening last by Mr. 
Whiting. 

It is with the utmost concern I am called upon by my duty 
to the King to communicate to your Excellency a most unhappy 
affair perpetrated here this day. 

Yesterday in the afternoon, Paul Revere arrived in this town, 
express from the committee in Boston to another committee in 
this town, and delivered his dispatch to Mr. Samuel Cutts, 
merchant in this town, who immediately convened the commit- 
tee of which he was one, and as I learn, laid it before them. 
This day before any suspicions could be had of their intentions, 
about four hundred men were collected together, and immedi- 
ately proceeded to his Majesty's Castle, William and Mary, at 
the entrance of this harbour, and forcibly took possession 
thereof; notwithstanding the best defence that could be made 
by Captain Cochran (whose conduct has been extremely laud- 
able, as your Excellency will see by the enclosed letter from 
him), and by violence carried away upwards of one hundred 
barrels of powder belonging to the King, deposited in the 
castle. I am informed that expresses have been circulated 
through the neighboring towns, to collect a number of people 
to-morrow, or as soon as possible, to carry away all the cannon 
and arms belonging to the castle which they will undoubtedly 
effect, unless some assistance should arrive from Boston in 
time to prevent it. .This event too plainly proves the imbecil- 
ity of this government to carry into execution his Majesty's 
order in Council, for seizing and detaining arms and ammuni- 
tion imported into this Province, without some strong ships of 
war in this harbor. Neither is the Province or custom house 
treasury in any degree safe, if it should come into the mind of 
the popular leaders to seize upon them. 

The principal persons who took the lead in this enormity are 
well known. Upon the best information I can obtain, this 
mischief originates from the publishing of the Secretary of 
State's letter, and the King's order in Council at Rhode Island, 
prohibiting the exportation of military stores from Great 

• American Archives, Vol. I, /. 1042: Appendix Belknap. Vol. Ill, /. 32S, 1812; 
N. H. Provincial Papers. Vol. VII, /. 420. 



Britain, and the proceedings in that Colony, in consequence of 
it, which have been published here by the forementioned Mr. 
Revere ; and the dispatch brought, before which all was per- 
fectly quiet and peaceable here. I am etc. 

(Signed) J. Wentworth. 

The report of Captain Cochran to Governor Wentworth re- 
ferred to above, dated the 14th of December, 1774, reads : ' 

May it please your Excellency : 

I received your Excellency's favour of yesterday, and in obe- 
dience thereto kept a strict watch all night, and added two 
men to my usual number, being all I could get. Nothing 
material occurred till this day, one o'clock, when I was in- 
formed there were a nurriber of people coming to take posses- 
sion of the Fort, upon which, having only five effective men 
with me, I prepared to make the best defence I could, and 
pointed some guns to those places where I expected they would 
enter. About three o'clock, the Fort was beset on all sides by 
upwards of four hundred men. I told them on their peril not 
to enter. They replied they would. I immediately ordered 
three four pounders to be fired on them, and then the small 
arms ; and, before we could be ready to fire again, we were 
stormed on all quarters, and they immediately secured both 
me and my men, and kept us prisoners about one hour and a 
half, during which time they broke open the powder-house, and 
took all the powder away, except one barrel ; and having put 
it into boats and sent it off, they released me from confinement. 
To which I can only add, that I did all in my power to defend 
the fort, but all my efforts could not avail against so great a 
number. I am your Excellency's, etc., 

(Signed) John Cochrax. 

On Thursday, the 15th of December, Governor Wentworth 
ordered thirty effective men to be enlisted or impressed for the 
protection of Fort William and Mary without result, as the fol- 
lowing will testify : " 

Province of New Hamp". 

2'o Capt. John Den net &= the Commission officer of the First Reg- 
iment of Militia in the Province of New Hampshire : 
Gentlemen. — You are without Delay out of your several 

companies to enlist or Impress Thirty effective men to serve 

1 American Archives, Vol. I,/. 1042; Appendix to Belknap, \'ol. III,/. 330: N. H. 
Provincial Papers, Vol. VII, /. 420. 
^ N. H. Provincial Papers, Vol. II, /. 421. 



6 

his Majesty as a Guard & Protection to his Fort William and, 
Mary at New Castle and make return immediately to me of 
your doings therein with the Names of the Persons so enlisted 
etc., that Provision may be made for their being regularly 
placed in the said Garrison, for all which this is your Warrant. 
I am Gentlemen, your friend etc 

Theodore Atkinson, Maj'' Gen'. 

Dated at Portsm" on the 15th of 
Decem'' 1774 12 o'clock at noon. 

Indorsed on the back of the foregoing order is the following: 

Pursuant to the within Warrant we have Paraded the streets, 
caused the Drums to be Beat, & Proclamation to be made at 
all the Publick corners, & on the Place of Parade. No Person 
appearing to Enlist, we wait for further orders. 

John Dennet, ) Commanding 
Portsmouth, 15 December James Stoodley, [ Officers. 
6 o'clock, p. ]\i. 

On Friday Governor Wentworth wrote to General Gage a 
further report, dated Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the i6th 
of December, 1774: ' 

On Wednesday last after 12 o'clock, an insurrection sud- 
denly took place in town, and immediately proceeded to His 
Majesty's castle, attacked, overpowered, wounded and confined 
the Captain, and thence took away all the King's powder. 
Yesterday, numbers were assembled, and, last night, brought 
off many cannon, etc. and sixty muskets. This day, the town 
is full of armed men, who refuse to disperse, but appear de- 
termined to complete the dismantling of the fortress entirely. 
Hitherto the people have abstained from private or personal 
injuries ; how long they will be so prevailed on, it is impossi- 
ble to say. I most sincerely lament the present distractions, 
which seem to have burst forth by means of a letter, from 
William Cooper to Samuel Cutts, delivered here on Tuesday 
last, P. M., by Paul Revere. 1 have not time to add further 
on this lamentable subject. 

On December i6th a gentleman in Portsmouth wrote to a 
gentleman in New York the following letter : " 

1 American Archives, Vol. I, /. 1042; Appendix Belknap, Vol. Ill, /. 331, 1S12; 
N. H. Provincial Papers, Vol. VII, /. 422. 

2 Mass. Gazette, Post Boy 6= Advertiser, Dec. 19, 1774 ; N. H. Gazette of Dec. 23, 
1774; American Archives, Vol. \, p. 1042; New Hampshire Provincial Papers, Vol. 

VII, A 423. 



Portsmouth, New Hampshirk, Dec' i6th, 1774. 
We have been in confusion here for two days, on account of 
an express from Boston, informing that two Regiments were 
coming to take possession of our Forts. By beat of drum, two 
hundred men immediately assembled and went to the Castle, 
in two gondolas, who on their way were joined by one hundred 
and fifty more, and demanded the surrender of the Fort, which 
Captain Cochran refused, and fired three Guns, but no lives 
were lost ; upon which they immediately scaled the walls, dis- 
armed the Captain and his men, took possession of ninety- 
seven barrels of Powder, put it on board the Gondolas, brought 
it up to Town, and went ofl" with it some distance into the 
country. Yesterday the town was full of men from the coun- 
try, who marched in in fours, chose a Committee to wait on 
The Governor, who assured them he knew of no such design 
as sending Troops, Ships, etc. This morning I hear there are 
a thousand or fifteen hundred men on their march to town. 
The Governor and the Council sat yesterday on the affair, and 
are now meeting again. The men who came down, are those 
of the best property and vote in the Province. 

Another gentleman in Portsmouth, writing on Saturday, 
December the 17th, gives also the main facts in the case, but 
he states that the powder was sent up to Exeter, which may 
have been reported at the time, but which is shown to be 
incorrect by the letter of General Sullivan, published in the 
Nezv Hampshire Mercury of May, 1785. He also magnifies 
some of the other facts. The letter, however, adds its testi- 
mony to the main occurrences of the week.^ 

Portsmouth, N. H., December 17, 1774. 
On Wednesday last a Drum and fife pervaded the streets of 
Portsmouth, accompanied by several Committee-men, and the 
Sons of Liberty, publickly avowing their intention of taking 
possession of Fort William and Mary, which was garrisoned by 
six invalids. After a great number of people had collected 
together, they embarked on board scows, boats, etc., entered 
the Fort, seized the Gunpowder, fired off the Guns, and car- 
ried the Powder up to Exeter a Town fifteen miles distant. 
The quantity was about two hundred to two hundred and 
twenty barrels ; the day after, while the Governor and Council 
were assembled in the Council Chamber, between two and 
three hundred persons came from Durham, and the adjoining 

' American Archives, Vol I,/. rp43 ; N. H. Provincial Papers, Vol. VII, /. 423. 



8 

Towns, headed by Major Sullivan, one of the Delegates of the 
Congress; they drew up before the Council Chamber, and 
demanded an answer to the following question : Whether there 
were any ships or troops expected here, or if the Governor had 
wrote for any? They were answered that his Excellency knew 
of no forces coming hither, and that none had been sent for ; 
upon which they retired to the Taverns and about ten or eleven 
o'clock at night, a large party repaired to the Fort, and it is 
said they carried away all the small arms. This morning about 
sixty horsemen accoutred, came into Town by eleven o'clock 
their intention, it is suspected, is to dismantle the Fort, and 
throw the Cannon, consisting of a fine train of 42-pounders, 
into the sea. 

In a letter to the Earl of Dartmouth, dated '^ Portsmouth, 
20th Dec. 1774," Governor Wentworth gives most complete 
account, and says : ^ 

On Tuesday, the 13th instant in the afternoon, one Paul 
Revere arrived express with letters from some of the leaders 
in Boston to Mr. Samuel Cutts, merchant-of this town. Re- 
ports were soon circulated that the fort at Rhode Island had 
been dismantled, and the Gunpowder and other stores removed 
up to Providence, and an Extract of the circular letter direct- 
ing the seizure of gunpowder was printed in a Boston news- 
paper of the 1 2th in consequence, as I have been informed, of 
the said letters having been communicated to the House of 
Assembly- at Rhode Island. And it was also falsely given out 
that troops were embarking at Boston to come and take pos- 
session of William and Mary Castle in this Harbour. These 
rumours soon raised an alarm in the town ; and, although I 
did not expect that the people would be so audacious as to 
make any attack of the castle, yet I sent orders to the captain 
at the Fort to be upon his guard. 

On Wednesday, the 14th, about 12 o'clock, news was 
brought to me that a Drum was beating about the town to 
collect the Populace together in order to go and take away the 
Gunpowder and dismantle the Fort. Immediately sent the 
Chief Justice of the Province to warn them from engaging in 
such an attempt. He went to them, where they were collected 
in the centre of the town, near the townhouse, explained to 
them the nature of the offence they proposed to commit, told 
them it was not short of Rebellion and intreated them to de- 
sist from it and disperse. But all to no purpose. They went 

' New England Historical and Genealogical Reg., 1S69, /. 276. 



9 

to the Island ; and being found there by the inhabitants of the 
towns of Newcastle and Rye, formed in all a body of about 
four hundred men, and the Castle being in too weak a condi- 
tion for defence (as I have in former letters explained to your 
Lordship) they forced their entrance, in spite of Captain Coch- 
ran; who defended it as long as he could: but having only 
the assistance of five men, their numbers overpowered them. 
After they entered the Fort, they seized upon the Captain, tri- 
umphantly gave three Huzzas, and hauled down the King's 
colours. They then put the captain and men under confine- 
ment, broke open the Gunpowder magazine, and carried off 
about ICO Barrels of Gunpowder, but discharged the captain 
and men from their confinement before their departure. 

On Thursday, the 15th, in the morning, a party of men 
came from the country, accompanied by Mr. (Gen. John) Sulli- 
van, one of the New Hampshire delegates to the congress, to 
take away the cannon from the fort also. Mr. Sullivan de- 
clared that he had taken pains to prevail upon them to return 
home again ; and said as there was no certain intelligence of 
troops being coming to take possession of the Castle, he would 
still use his utmost endeavors to disperse them. 

While the town was thus full of men, a committee of them 
came to me to solicit for pardon or a suspension of prosecu- 
tion against the persons that took away the Gunpowder. I 
told them I could not promise them any such thing; but, if 
they dispersed and restored the Gunpowder, which I earnestly 
exhorted them to do, I. said I hoped His Majesty may be 
thereby induced to consider it an alleviation of the offence. 
They parted from me, in all appearance, perfectly disposed to 
follow the advice I had given them ; and, having proceeded 
directly to the rest of their associates, they all publickly voted, 
about five o'clock in the afternoon, near the Town House, to 
return home ; which it was thought they would have done, and 
it also was further expected that the gunpowder would have 
been restored by the morning. 

But the people instead of dispersing, went to the castle in 
the night, headed by Mr. Sullivan, and took away sixteen 
pieces of cannon, about sixty muskets, and other military 
stores, and brought them to the out Borders of the Town. 

On P'riday morning, the i6th, Mr. Folsom, the other dele- 
gate, came to town that morning, with a great number of 
armed men, who remained in Town as a guard till the flow of 
the tide in the evening when the cannon were sent in Gondolas 
up the River into the country, and they all dispersed without 
having done any personal injury to anybody in town. 



10 

They threatened to return again in order to dismantle the 
fort entirely, and to carry off or destroy the remaining heavy 
cannon (about seventy pieces), and also to seize upon the 
Province Treasury, all of which there was reasonable ground 
to fear they would do, after what they had already done ; but 
on the Gunpowder's being taken away, I wrote to General 
Gage and Admiral Graves for assistance to restrain the bois- 
terous temper of the people ; upon which the admiral ordered 
the armed ships Canceaux and Scarborough here, and they ar- 
rived (the former the 17th and the latter on the 19th) in time 
to prevent the further dismantling of the Fort. 

Further on Governor Wentworth says the government has 
no power to bring the offenders to punishment. 

No jail would hold them long and no jury would find them 
guilty ; for, by the false alarm that has been raised throughout 
the country, it is considered by the weak and ignorant, who 
have the rule in these times, an act of self-preservation. 

Again he says : 

I tried to dissuade them by the civil authority, sheriff, 
magistrates, etc., and did all 1 could to get the militia raised, 
but to no purpose. 

Under date of December 20th, 1774, a gentleman in Boston 
writing to a Mr. Rivington of New York, says : ^ 

On Monday the 12th inst. our worthy citizen, Mr. Paul 
Revere, was sent express from only two or three of the Com- 
mittee of Correspondence at Boston, as I am creditably in- 
formed (of whom no number under seven are empowered to 
act) to a like committee at Portsmouth, N. H., informing them 
as 'tis said "That orders had been sent to the Governors of 
their Provinces to deliver up their several Fortifications or 
Castles to General Gage, and that a number of Troops had the 
preceding day embarked on board transports with a design to 
proceed and take possession of said Castles." That in con- 
sequence thereof the House of Assembly of Rhode Island had 
caused the Fort to be dismantled and the Guns, Ammunitions, 
etc., to be removed to Providence. 

Upon receiving this intelligence the Committee at Ports- 
mouth was called together to advise what was to be done in 
so alarming a crisis ; but not having a full meeting, nor able 
to determine upon any measures proper to be taken, they con- 

1 American Archives, Vol. I,/. 1054. 



11 

eluded to defer the matter till the next day, when a fullermeet- 
ing of said committee was expected, but two or three warm 
zealous members, having the good of their country at heart 
more than the others, and thinking any further deliberation on 
so important an affair unnecessary, gave out their order early 
the next morning for the drums to be beat to raise Volunteers 
to go and take the King's Fort. With difficulty a number of 
men were persuaded to convene, who proceeded to the Fort, 
which is situated at New Castle, an island about two miles 
from the Town, and being there joined by a number of the 
inhabitants of said New Castle, amounted to near four hundred 
men ; They invested the Fort and being refused admittance by 
the Commander of it, who had only five men with him, and 
who discharged several guns at them, scaled the walls and 
soon overpowered and pinioned the Commander. They then 
struck the King's colors, with three cheers broke open the 
Powder House, and carried off one hundred and three barrels 
of powder, leaving only one behind. 

Previous to this, expresses had been sent out to alarm the 
country. Accordingly, a large body of men marched the next 
day from Durham headed by two Generals, Major Sullivan, 
one of the worthy Delegates, who represented that Province in 
the Continental Congress, and the Parson of the Parish, who 
being long accustomed to apply himself more to the care of 
the bodies than the souls of his parishioners, had forgotten 
that the weapons of his warfare ought to be spiritual, and not 
carnal, and therefore marched down to supply himself with the 
latter, from the King's Fort, and assisted in robbing him of his 
warlike stores. After being drawn up on parade, they chose a 
Committee, consisting of those persons who had been most 
active in the riot of the preceding day, with Major Sullivan and 
some others, to wait on the Governor, and know of him 
whether any of the King's Troops or Ships were expected. 
The Governor after expressing to them his great concern for 
the consequences of taking the Powder from the Fort, which 
they pretended to disapprove and be ignorant of, assured them 
that he knew of neither Troops or Ships coming into the 
Province, and ordered the Major, as a Magistrate, to go and 
disperse the people. When the Committee returned to the 
body, and reported what the Governor had told them, they 
voted it was satisfactory, and that they would return home. 
But by the eloquent harangue of their Demosthenes they were 
first prevailed upon to vote that they took part with and ap- 
proved of the measures of those who had taken the Powder. 
Matters appeared then to subside, and it was thought every 



12 

man had peaceably returned to his own home. Instead of 
this, Major Sullivan, with about seventy of his clients, con- 
cealed themselves till the evening, and then went to the Fort, 
and brought off in Gondolas all the small arms, with fifteen 
4-pounders and one 9-pounder, and a quantity of twelve and 
four and twenty pound shot, which they conveyed to Durham, 
etc. 

The day following being Friday, another body of men from 
Exeter headed by Colonel Folsom, the other Delegate to the 
Continental Congress, marched into Portsmouth, and paraded 
about the Town, and having passed several votes expressive 
of their approbation of the measures that had been pursued 
by the bodies of the two preceding days in robbing the fort of 
Guns, Powder, etc., retired home in the evening, without 
further mischief. 

Thus by this false alarm was a great part of that Province, 
which though staunch in the cause of liberty, before in a state 
of peace and good order, kept for three days in the greatest 
confusion, and the good people of it persuaded by' a few 
flaming demagogues, to commit a most outrageous overt act of 
treason and rebellion. 

No history, 1 believe, will furnish us with an instance of a 
King's Fort being taken and his Colors struck by his own sub- 
jects in time of peace, and without any cause or provocation. 

In the New HampsJiiic Gazette of Friday, December 23, 
appeared a letter which is somewhat humorous in its nature, 
directed to Mr. Printer, and signed a " Lover of Order." This 
is interesting to us chiefly because it shows that the king's order 
prohibiting the exportation of arms was the cause here as it had 
been in Rhode Island of the seizure of the powder. This letter 
says, among other things, " Alarmed with the tendency of the 
Quebec x\ct, with the accounts that the Canadians and Indians 
were to be called forth to enforce the Acts of Parliament, so 
disagreeable to all the Colonies, long inured to defend them- 
selves in the wide extended frontiers of this Province, by their 
valour against the restless savages of the Wilderness, without 
any other aid, and while destitute of arms necessary for such 
defense, finding that His Majesty, not knowing their peculiar 
defensless State, had been pleased to prohibit the Exportation 
of Powder, arms, and other warlike stores to the Colonies with- 
out special License Some of the good People of 



13 

this Province, in the wonted Honesty and Simplicity of their 
hearts, imagined that no one would have just reason to com- 
plain of their too great Forwardness if they seasonably re- 
moved some of the warlike stores from the Fort 

Which they accordingly effected without any great Tumult or 
Opposition." 

Again in the same paper the following notice appears : 
" Since our last, arrived here his Majesty's Ships Canceaiix, 
Capt. Mowatt, and the Scarborough, Capt. Barclay, both from 
Boston, with 80 or 100 soldiers aboard." 

On the 26th of December Governor Wentworth issued the 
following proclamation : 

A Proclamation by the Governor.^ 

Whereas, several Bodies of Men did, in the day time of the 
14th and in the Night of the 15th of this Instant December, in 
the most daring and rebellious Manner invest, attack and forci- 
bly enter into his Majesty's Castle William and Mary in this 
Province, and overpowering and confining the Captain and 
Garrison, did, besides committing many treasonable Insults 
and Outrages, break open the Magazine of said Castle and 
plunder it of above One hundred Barrels of Gunpowder, with 
upwards of sixty Stand of small Arms, and did also force from 
the Ramparts of said Castles and carry off sixteen Pieces of 
Cannon, and other military Stores, in open Hostility and direct 
Oppugnation of his Majesty's Government and in the most 
atrocious Contempt of his Crown and Dignity : — 

I Do, by Advice and Consent of his Majesty's Council, issue 
this Proclamation, ordering and requiring in his Majesty's 
Name, all Magistrates and other officers whether Civil or Mili- 
tary, as they regard their Duty to the King and the Tenor of 
the Oaths they have solemnly taken and subscribed, to exert 
themselves in detecting and securing in some of his Majesty's 
Goals in this Province the said Offenders, in Order to their 
being brought to condign punishment; And from motives of 
Duty to the King and Regard to the welfare of the good Peo- 
ple of this Province ; I do in the most earnest and solemn Man- 
ner, exhort and enjoin you, his Majesty's liege Subjects of this 
Government, to beware of suffering yourselves to be seduced 
by the false Art & Menaces of abandoned Men, to abet, 

1 N. H. Provincial Papers, Vol. VII, /. 423. 

''Copied from printed Proclamation in MS. Corr., Vol. HI,/. 334. 



14 

protect or screen from Justice any of the said high handed 
Offenders, or to withhold or secrete his Majesty's Munition 
forcibly taken from his Castle ; but that each and every of you 
will use your utmost endeavor to detect and discover the Perpe- 
trators of these Crimes to the civil Magistrate, and assist in 
securing and bringing them to Justice, and in recovering the 
King's Munition ; This Injunction it is my bounden Duty to 
lay strictly upon you, and to require your Obedience thereto : 
as you value individually your Faith and Allegiance to his 
Majesty, as you wish to preserve that Reputation to the Prov- 
ince in general ; and as you would avert the most dreadful but 
most certain Consequences of a contrary conduct to yourselves 
and Posterity. 

Given at the Council-chamber in Portsmouth, the 26th Day of 
December, in the 15th year of the Reign of our Sovereign 
Lord George the Third, by the Grace of God, of great Britain, 
France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc., and in 
the year of our Lord Christ, 1774. 

J. Wentworth. 
By his Excellency's Command 
with advice of Council, 

Theodore Atkinson, Sec'y. 

God Save the King. 

Again Governor Wentworth wrote to Lord Dartmouth, under 
date 28 December, 1774. He says : ^ 

It is with the greatest concern I perceive the unlimited 
influence that the popular leaders in Boston obtain in this 
Province, especially since the outrage of the 14th instant. In- 
somuch, that I think the people here are disposed to attempt 
any measure required by those few men ; and in consequence 
thereof, are arming and exercising men as if for immediate 
war. 

And further : In a letter to George Erving, Esq., dated 
Portsmouth, 5 January, 1775, referring to the 14th of Decem- 
ber, when the castle was seized, he says : 

The powers of magistracy have been faithfully and repeat- 
edly tried. Governor, Council, Chief Justice, Sheriff, and Jus- 
tices of the Peace personally appeared ; Proclamation made 
according to law for all to disperse and desist'; the militia 
ordered out: drums beat, etc. ; yet all of no avail. Not one man 

' New England Hist, and Gen. Register, 1S69, /. 277. 



15 

appeared to assist in executing the law. And it was impossible 
for me, with four Councillors, two Justices, one Sheriff, Mr. Mac- 
donough, and Mr. Benning Wentworth, to subdue such multi- 
tudes, for not one other man would come forth. Not even the 
Revenue officers — all chose to shrink in safety from the storm, 
and suffered me to remain exposed to the folly and madness of 
an enraged multitude, daily and hourly increasing in numbers 
and delusion. 

He says, — 

Captain Cochran and his five men defended a ruinous cas- 
tle, with the walls in many places down, at length knocked 
down, their arms broken and taken from them by above one 
hundred to one ; the captain was confined and at last would 
not nor did not give up the keys notwithstanding every men- 
ace they could invent ; finally they broke the doors with axes 
and crowbars. 

Jeremy Belknap, whose History of New Hampshire was writ- 
ten some 3'ears before its publication, and who was a contem- 
porary and friend of Sullivan and Langdon, gives us the follow- 
ing account, which, in spite of criticisms upon it, will bear the 
closest scrutiny, and is essentially accurate as are most of the 
accounts of that first historian of New Hampshire. 

Belknap's History of New Hampshire, Vol. H,/. 288 : 

An order having been passed by the King in Council pro- 
hibiting the exportation of gunpowder and other military stores 
to America, a copy of it was brought by express to Portsmouth 
at a time when a ship of war was daily expected from Boston 
with a party of troops to take possession of Fort William and 
Mary, at the entrance of the harbor. The committee of the 
town with all possible secrecy and dispatch collected a company 
from that and some of the neighboring towns ; and before the 
Governor had any suspicion of their intentions, they proceeded 
to Newcastle and assaulted the Fort. The Captain and his 
five men (which was the whole' garrison) were confined, and 
one hundred barrels of powder were carried off. The next day 
another company went and removed fifteen of the lightest can- 
non, and all the small arms, with some other warlike stores, 
which they distributed in the several towns under the care of 
the committees. Major John Sullivan and Captain John Lang- 
don distinguished themselves as leaders in this affair. It was 
transacted with great expedition and alacrity, and in the most 
fortunate point of time, just before the arrival of the Scarboro 



16 

frigate and Caiiseau sloop, with several companies of soldiers, 
who took possession of the Fort and of the heavy cannon which 
had not been removed. 

The governor put the five men who belonged to the fort on 
board the ship of war to be reserved as evidences in case of a 
prosecution of the offenders for high treason ; and having con- 
sulted council in this and the neighboring Province, thought it 
his duty; that he might prevent any charge of misprision of 
treason against himself; to dismiss from public trust, all those 
persons concerned in the assault of the fort, who had held any 
office under the government and concerning whose proceedings 
he had authentic testimony. He also issued a proclamation, com- 
manding all officers, civil and military, to assist in detecting and 
securing the offenders ; and exhorting all the people to beware of 
being seduced by the false arts and menaces of abandoned men. 

This closes the list of documents of the immediate period 
bearing upon the affair, and they seem to be sufficiently clear 
and to agree so closely as to leave little room for the contro- 
versies that have taken place. It is true that they mention 
but few names and give few details from the patriot's stand- 
point. Neither do they state anything authentic as to the 
disposal of the military stores nor of the influence this uprising 
had upon the future course of the Revolution. 

The main questions in dispute have been (i) the disposal of 
the powder and military stores ; (2 ) the names of the leaders 
in the affair and such of their men as could .be determined ; 
(3) whether the tradition of the use of this powder at Bunker 
Hill is founded on fact ; and (4) whether or not this was the 
first real uprising of the Revolution. A study of some of the 
later documents that bear upon these questions will help our 
conclusion, and where tradition aids it will be considered as 
tradition and not as history ; giving weight to traditional state- 
ments in accordance with the nearness of their origin to the 
date of the occurrence or to the actor concerned therein. 

I. J'HE DISPOSAL OF THE POWDER. 

Among the more important data to which we can give 
unquestioned weight is an article heretofore unnoticed in the 
Neiv Hampshire Mercury of 1785 and in the Nezv Hampshire 
Spy of 1789. In one of these General Sullivan refers to an 



17 

anonymous attack made upon him in the Neiv Hampshire 
Mercury of April ig, 1785, of which no copy appears to be in 
existence, although diligent search has been made. It is 
probable, however, that the article was the same as one 
appearing in the Neiv Hampshire Gazette of about the same 
date and signed " Honestus," which contains nothing new 
except that the author speaks of the powder as having been 
sent to Exeter, where eventually much of it was undoubtedly 
stored. General Sullivan also refers to an act of congress 
of Tuesday, July 31, 1781, when the continental congress 
ordered^ "That the board of treasury pass to the credit of 
General Sullivan the following sums in specie, viz. : One hun- 
dred dollars as a compensation for the expenses incurred by 
him in securing the military stores and ordinances at Fort 
William and Mary, New Hampshire, in the year 1775, and 
distributing them in various parts of the country for the use of 
the United States ; one thousand dollars for the extraordinary 
expenses, necessarily incurred by him as the commanding 
officer in a separate department, for which no provision or 
compensation has been made; and four hundred dollars as a 
reimbursement of the expense incurred by him after his resig- 
nation for the recovery of his health which he had lost in the 
service and was thereby induced to retire." 

The article of General Sullivan above referred to appeared 
in the Ahiv Hampshire Mercury of May 3, 1785, and was 
addressed to "The Impartial Public," and is as follows : 

Although I have no desire to satisfy or even to answer, 
a malicious, false, and cowardly writer, who under a feigned 
and very unproper signature, has endeavored to wound my 
reputation, by a publication in the New-Hampshire Mercury 
of the 19th ultimo: yet in as much as I am conscious of hav- 
ing acted with uprightness in every part of my political con- 
duct, I shall for your satisfaction answer the three charges 
which his malice has suggested, and which his knowledge of 
their falsity has prevented being signed by his proper name. 

The first charge is obtaining a considerable sum from Con- 
gress by false representations, respecting the taking powder 
from fort William and Mary. 

Secondly, Giving up the fishing-ground. And, 

1 Journal of Congress for the year 1781, Vol. VII, 159. 



18 

Thirdly, Receiving a bribe in my office of x\ttorney-General, 
which prevented my complying with my duty in endeavoring to 
confiscate a valuable estate ; by which I suppose he means, 
Col. Boyd's. 

To answer the first it will be necessary to relate the man- 
ner of taking the stores from the fort. 

When I returned from Congress in 1774 and saw the order 
of the British King and Council, prohibiting military stores 
being sent to this country ; I took the alarm, clearly perceived 
the designs of the British ministry, and wrote several pieces 
upon the necessity of securing military stores; which pieces 
were published in several papers. 

On the 1 8th of December [date is evidently given from 
memory and is wrong] some gentlemen belonging to Ports- 
mouth, went to the fort and took sundry barrels of powder and 
sent in a gondola one hundred and ten barrels to my care; 
which myself and others deposited in places of security. The 
next day a report was spread that two vessels of war were 
coming from Boston to take possession of the fort and harbour. 

I went down with a large number of men and in the night 
following went in person with gondolas, took possession of the 
fort, brought away the remainder of the powder, the small 
arms, bayonets, and cartouch-boxes, together with the cannon 
and ordnance stores; was out all night, and returned to Ports- 
mouth next day. I might here add that I bore the expense 
of all the party. The gondolas, with the stores, were brought 
to Durham, after several days spent in cutting the ice, Durham 
river being then frozen over; the cannon, etc., was then 
deposited in places of security. These are facts known to 
almost every person in the State — and to all them concerned, 
that almost the whole expense was borne by me; notwith- 
standing which I never applied for a single farthing to Con- 
gress, or any other body, for this service ; and when a com- 
mittee of Congress, who were appointed to report what was 
due for my allowance in separate departments where I com- 
manded, reported one hundred dollars for this service, I warm- 
ly opposed it, and told Congress I never expected, or desired a 
single farthing for it — for the truth of this I appeal to the Hon, 
Judge Livermore, who was with me in Congress, at the time, 
and knows every fact relating to it ; he is now on the circuit 
through the state, consequently any gentleman may satisfy him- 
self, by asking him whether these facts are true or false. 

But to prove whether Congress has been generous to me in 
their grants, I beg leave to mention that by a resolve of Congress 
of the 15th of June, 1775, general officers in separate depart- 



19 

ments, were to be allowed one hundred and fifty dollars per 
month, over and above their wages : I served thirty months in 
separate departments, and Congress made me a grant of thir- 
teen hundred dollars only, in lieu of four thousand eight hundred 
which was my due : it is true one hundred of it was reported 
for the above-mentioned service, but upon my objecting to it, 
was not in reality granted in that light — and further, to prove 
the generosity of Congress to me, I now say, that for near five 
years' service, I have never received only the nominal sum in 
paper money for my services, and am the only officer in America 
that has received no depreciation or allowance therefor. 
******* 

John Sullivan. 
Durham, April 23, 1785. 

Among the many political feuds early existing among the 
prominent men of the state of New Hampshire one had broken 
out between Judge Ebenezer Thompson of Durham and Gen. 
John Sullivan. This had been fanned into open warfare from 
the fact that a quarrel had taken place between their sons 
in which the fathers afterwards took sides. Lawsuits were 
begun and appeals made to the public through the press. For- 
tunately for our purpose, one of the points in controversy 
between them was the respective parts each had taken at the 
capture of Fort William and Mary. As many of the partici- 
pants were alive, who knew all the facts, both were naturally care- 
ful to have their statements accurate. The first number of this 
series appeared in an article in the Ahw Hampshire Spy of Friday, 
March 6, 1789, signed "An Enemy to Deceit," in which an un- 
named gentleman (Judge Ebenezer Thompson) is accused of 
appearing at Exeter at town-meeting to work against the elec- 
tion of General Sullivan as president of the state, and of keep- 
ing back a number of votes in the election of 1786.^ The only 
statement of interest to us is the following : 

It surely cannot be forgotten that this gentleman, in company 
with a number of others, went from Durham to Portsmouth in 
December, 1774, to assist in securing the stores at Fort William 
and Mary; and when Governor Wentworth suspended him and 
sundry others on that account he was restored by making oath 
before George Atkinson, Esq. [then Deputy Secretary], that he 
was not concerned. 

'Ebenezer Thompson afterwards refuted this charge by affidavits, etc. 



20 

In the New Hampshire Spy oi Friday, March 13, 1789, Judge 
Ebenezer Thompson defends himself from the attack of "An 
Enemy to Deceit," whom he assumes to be General Sullivan, 
and among other things says : 

That I ever was concerned, directly or indirectly, in taking 
the stores from Fort William and Mary, in 1774, is absolutely 
false. But had it been the case I should not have thought 
of applying to, or receiving from. Congress a large pecuniary 
reward by single service. But what a gentleman did who as- 
sisted in the matter will appear by the following extract from a 
resolution of Congress printed in the Journal, Vol. VII, /. 159 : 

"Ordered that the Board of Treasury pass to the credit of 
John Sullivan in Specie one hundred dollars as a compensation 
for the expense incurred by him in securing the military stores 
and ordinance in Fort William and Mary, New Hampshire, in 
the year 1775." 

It is a well-known fact that the Hon. John Langdon, Esq., 
and a number of other persons took the powder from the afore- 
said fort and sent it into the country before the gentleman who 
received the reward knew anything about it. 

(Signed) Ebenezer Thompson. 

Durham, March 11, 1789. 

In the Neiv Hampshire Spy of March 17, 1789, General Sul- 
livan addresses a reply to " Ebenezer Thompson, Esq." and 
after refusing to affirm or deny his authorship of the article 
signed "An Enemy to Deceit," he discusses the Exeter affair 
and the 1786 election and then the following appears : 

As different ideas may be affixed to the words directly or 
indirectly, I shall not assert that you were directly or indirectly 
concerned in taking the stores from Fort William & Mary, in 
1774; but will relate facts as they are. In the night of the 18th 
of December, 1774 [again he has the date from memory incor- 
rect], a messenger came to my house from the Hon. Col. Long, 
and I think also signed by President Langdon, informing that one 
hundred barrels of powder were sent to my care ; that they had 
been to the fort and secured as much of the powder as they could ; 
and desired me to come down with a party to secure the remain- 
der, with the cannon and munitions of war, as they were in 
danger of being seized by the British ships. I mustered 
hands — took care of the powder, part of which was lodged in 
your house. The next morning we mustered and you went to 



21 

Portsmouth in company with about thirty or forty ; among 
whom was the Rev. Mr. Adams, Deacon Norton, Lieut. Dur- 
gin, Capt. Jonathan Woodman, Mr. Aaron Davis, and, I think, 
Mr. Footman of Dover, and many others, — I think you did not 
go down to the fort; that was at night when a number of us 
mustered what gondolas we could — went to the fort and secured 
as much as our vessels could bring away. When the gondolas 
arrived in Durham river, it was froze far down, and we were 
about two days in sawing the ice and getting up the boats, and 
one day more in storing and distributing the stores; in this you 
were obliging enough to assist us ; — but whether that was being 
directly or indirectly concerned, I shall not determine. 

Nothing can be more unjust than your calling up again the 
matter of Congress voting me a hundred dollars for assisting 
to take the cannon, etc., from the fort ; when it was so fully 
discussed in the public prints, about four years since, and the 
malicious charge refuted. The Hon. Judge Livermore who 
was in Congress with me, publickly declared and all the then 
members of Congress will attest, that the vote was passed in 
my absence, and upon a petition for "my allowance in seperate 
departments, in which it was incidentally mentioned my being 
one of the first opposition and amongst those who first dared 
to attack a King's fort. The committee reported me a hun- 
dred dollars, and cut me off three quarters of my allowance in 
seperate departments; the vote passed before I returned into 
Congress. I was the person who rose and violently opposed 
the measure — told them I was so far from asking or wishing 
such a grant, that as it would open a door for similar grants, I 
could not from principle accept it; but Congress finding, how 
much I was cut short in my allowance for seperate commands 
advised me to a compromise, to take the sum voted in full and 
release my demands in seperate departments. Thus by a com- 
promise I had a hundred dollars voted, for releasing more than 
a thousand. Any person who wishes to be satisfied of these 
facts may apply to the Hon. Judge Livermore, or to any mem- 
ber then in Congress, or may by having recourse to the state- 
ment of facts by me, — and the proofs adduced in my answer 
to letters signed Candidus in the beginning of 1785, be fully 
convinced of the injustice of the accusation. 

John Sullivan. 

Durham, March 14, 1789. 

The trouble between General Sullivan and Judge Ebenezer 
Thompson, arising out of this and other disputes, seems to 
have been settled the following year by a letter from General 



22 

Sullivan, the original of which is now in the possession of Mr. 
Lucien Thompson, of Durham, and of which the following is a 
facsimile : 












/Ley, e'^Ar^ fom ^,_^ -f^^u.i^ 



^— '-" -^'j ^--' -- ^.-.^^^ ^^ 






J^^''i S^e-^i^jrti^ P^/^/^^^a^ Si 



23 

These letters leave absolutely no doubt that, in the first 
instance, the powder and other military stores were brought 
to Durham to be from there distributed. Whether or not part 
of the powder was lodged under the pulpit of the Durham 
meeting-house must remain, as heretofore, a matter of tradi- 
tion ; but the fact that the Rev. Mr. Adams'was of the party, 
and that, with the exception of General Sullivan's own house, 
it was one of the nearest buildings to the landing where the 
powder was unloaded, lends probability to the report. We 
know positively, as the family tradition has always held, that 
some of the powder was stored in the house of Ebenezer 
Thompson, which is still standing in Durham, and is still occu- 
pied by a descendant of the judge in the person of Mr. Lucien 
Thompson. There is little doubt, too, that, in the subsequent 
distribution, a considerable portion of the powder was left 
with Maj. John Demerit of Madbury. Such has been the 
unvarying tradition in Durham. Powder and balls from Fort 
William and Mary, which had been kept in the original maga- 
zine built in the Madbury home, are now in the possession of 
the New Hampshire Historical Society, donated in 1887 by Mr. 
John Demerit (now also major) of Madbury, N. H., a direct 
descendant and namesake of Major Demerit. Miss Mary P. 
Thompson, writing for Xh^ Independent Statesman of Nov. 17, 
1887, states that the wife of Major Demerit's grandson, who 
had had charge of Major Demerit during the last six years of 
his life, related to her the accounts of the capture of the fort 
and the preservation of this powder, as she had heard it from 
Major Demerit. Also, in Brewster's Rambles about Ports- 
mouth, it is asserted that Daniel P. Drown, calling upon Major 
Demerit in 1799 or 1800, was given two charges of this powder 
for his rifle with the statement that it was taken from Fort 
William and Mary. 

It is certainly true that a large part of the powder was after- 
wards distributed among the several towns. This is indicated 
by General Sullivan's letter and by the journal of congress, and 
has also been well brought out by Hon. John G. Crawford in 
an article read before the New Hampshire Society Sons of the 



24 

American Revolution.^ Several documents quoted in the New 
Hampshire Provincial Papers, Vol. VII, also show this to have 
been a fact. The arms brought from Portsmouth were repaired 
and put in order at Durham, for in the Durham town records^ 
it is recorded that at March 31, 1783, town-meeting it was 
" Voted that the selectmen be directed to allow Thomas Wille 
20/9 in full for repairing the guns brought from Fort Ww and 
Mary." 

THE PARTICIPANTS. 

It is unfortunate that so little is known about the actual 
leaders and those who joined with them in the attacks upon 
the fort. The newspapers of the time were silent upon the 
question, and even the official reports contain scarcely a refer- 
ence, simply saying that the leaders were well known. The 
act was one of open treason to the king, and, as it was the 
almost unanimous act of the community, but little was written 
or published that might injure the participants. A few names 
only are preserved to us. Governor Wentworth says that the 
first attack was carried out by citizens of Portsmouth, Rye, 
and Newcastle. No individual is named. General Sullivan 
says the powder was sent to him by a messenger from Colonel 
Long, and, if he remembered correctly, signed also by John 
Langdon. John Sullivan was the unquestioned leader of the 
second attack. Jeremy Belknap, who wrote during the lives 
of both Langdon and Sullivan and was a close friend of the 
latter, credits the leader-ship to these two prominent New 
Hampshire men. Judge Ebenezer Thompson, in the Ne7t> 
Ha7npshii'e Spy, says : " Hon. John Langdon and others took 
the powder." John M.' Whitton ^ is the first to claim Thomas 
Pickering as a leader. No previous mention of his name in 
this connection has come to light, and Whitton does not give 
his authority. The History of Manchester, 1856,* Report of 
the Adjutant-General for New Hampshire, 1866,® and Brews- 
ter's Rambles about Portsmouth speak of Thomas Pickering 

I Prpceedings of the N. H. Sons Am. Kev , 1S89-97. 

'Vol. 11,/. 220. 

^ History of New Hampshire, 1834,/. 122. 

*/>. 40S. 'Vol. 11,/. 263. 



as being the leader in the first attack. All three take their 
authority from Daniel P. Drown, a nephew of Pickering, who 
had received his version of the afifair from his father, Samuel 
Drown, whom he stated as a participant. Brewster, obtaining 
his information from the same source, states also that Sullivan, 
Langdon, George Frost of Durham, and Dr. Bartlett of. Kings- 
ton, were present. The account by Drown is so inaccurate in 
many particulars that it is doubtful if his memory of his father's 
story was correct in regard to the others. Brewster^ also 
states that Pierse Long assisted in the removal of the powder 
which General Sullivan's article, before quoted, confirms. 
From the A'no Hainpshirc Spy we learn that Judge Ebenezer 
Thompson went with the party as far as Portsmouth, but was 
not present at the fort, and that the Rev. Mr. Adams, Deacon 
Norton, Lieutenant Durgin, Capt. Jonathan Woodman, Mr. 
Aaron Davis, and, probably, Mr. Footman of Dover, were 
actively engaged in the second attack. 

Mr. Eleazer Bennet of Durham, who was probably the last sur- 
vivor of those who took part in the affair, gave a full description 
to the Rev. Mr. Tobey of Durham, who published it in an obit- 
uary notice of Mr. Bennet, in the Congregational Jounial oi Feb. 
i8, 1852. It is unfortunate for our purpose that Mr. Bennet was 
one hundred years old at the time Mr. Tobey took down his 
statement, for his account i.s very inaccurate, and with the ex- 
ception of adding several names of those present contains 
nothing of value. He enumerated John Sullivan, Winborn 
Adams, Ebenezer Thompson, John Demerit of Madbury, 
Alpheus Chesley, Jonathan Chesley, Peter French (a law stu- 
dent in Sullivan's office), John Spencer, Micah Davis, Edward 
Sullivan, Isaac Small, Benjamin Small, and himself, as members 
of the party. It is worthy of note that he makes no mention 
of Alexander Scammell, although in the narrative as quoted in 
Amory's Life of Sullivan as coming from the same source his 
name is included. It is probable that Amory copied this account 
from the highly imaginary article in Harper's Monthly of July, 
1886, rather than from the original publication. However, in 

'Vol. U,/. 276. 



26 

a letter to the senate of New Hampshire of Feb. 14, 1785,^ 
General Sullivan says that he was assisted by his three clerks in 
bringing the stores up the river, and this leaves but little doubt 
that Alexander Scammell, Peter French, and James Under- 
wood, who were at that time in his ofifice, were with him at the 
second attack. Another account by a survivor of the Exeter 
party, and published by Governor Bell in his History of Exeter, 
also dififers so much from the known facts that little credence 
can be given to any part of it. It does not seem wise to further 
quote either of these accounts. 

THE POWDER AT BUNKER HILL. 

It has always been the tradition in southeastern New Hamp- 
shire, founded upon the statements of persons who claimed to 
have the facts from the actors themselves, that Major John 
Demerit took a cart load of the powder, captured at Ports- 
mouth, from the magazine at his house, to Cambridge, and 
reached there just in time for its opportune use at Bunker Hill. 
No inhabitant of Madbury or Durham doubts the story, but it 
cannot with our present knowledge be proven. On the other 
hand there is nothing to render it improbable. The official 
documents of the time are silent upon the. question. 

On the fly leaf of an application dated April 21, 1775, from 
the Committee of Correspondence in Portsmouth to a like 
committee in Exeter, a statement, made at the time, is given of 
the quantity of powder stored in Exeter and vicinity.^ It states 
that at that time there were twelve barrels at Kingston, eight 
at Epping^ four at Poplin, eight at Nottingham with Major 
Cilley, six at Brentwood, one at Londonderry, four at Ports 
mouth, and twenty-nine at Exeter. It is quite probable that 
this represents part of the powder from Fort William and Mary, 
but there is nothing to indicate the fact except, perhaps, that 
Major Cilley's name appears as a custodian, and he was 
directed by the Exeter Committee of Safety^ on the 7th of the 
following August "to apply to the Selectmen of the Several 

' N. H. state Papers, Vol. XVIII, /. 749. 

2 Bell's History of Exeter,/. 242. 

^ N. H. Provincial Papers. Vol. VII, /. 573. 



Towns in this Colony with whom was lodged the powder taken 
last winter from Fort Willm & Mary, take an account of what 
is now in their Custody respectively and request of them forth- 
with to convey the whole of it to Col. Nicholas Gilman at Exe- 
ter." This request to Major Cilley was the result of a letter 
from General Sullivan to the Committee of Safety, under date 
of August 4th, at Winter Hill, stating that the army was in 
sore straits for powder, and asking that at least twenty barrels 
be sent at once.^ There is no doubt that Major Cilley carried 
out his instructions, and that much of the powder from Fort Will- 
iam and Mary was carried to Winter Hill, for General Sullivan 
in a subsequent letter claims to have supplied the troops at 
Winter Hill, when in sore need, with powder. On June 2d the 
Committee of Supplies had been ordered to " apply and obtain 
the Quantity and Quality of the Powder bro't from the Fort 
Wm and Mary, also take it into their possession and lay the 
state of it before the Committee of Safety"^ but there is no 
record of their having carried out their orders. In fact the 
latter instructions to INIajor Cilley would seem to indicate that 
this order was not carried into effect. Now, although much of 
this powder was probably sent to General Sullivan at Winter 
Hill, there is nothing to indicate that the portion retained in 
Durham was not previously used at Bunker Hill. There are 
two facts, apart from tradition, which seem to show the truth 
of the statement, and that the tradition was not of recent 
birth. 

C. E. Potter, in his History of Manchester, 1856, /. 410, 
states in a footnote that Major Demerit took the powder to 
Bunker Hill, and further says that a "gentleman is now living 
in Portsmouth to whom he gave some of it for squirrel hunt- 
ing, after relating the taking of the fort, remarking as he gave 
it, ' Here, try this powder, this is the kind we killed the red 
coats with at Bunker Hill.'" Still earlier, on May 21, 1823, 
at the Portsmouth Bicentennial Anniversary celebration, the 
following toast was printed on the programme: "Major Sulli- 
van and Capt Langdon. Our delegates to Congress in '75 who 

' N. H. Provincial Papers, Vol. VII, /. 572. 
^ X. H. Provincial Papers, Vol. VII. /. 497. 



28' 

supplied Bunker Hill with Powder from his Majesties fort at 
Pascataquack.'' ^ 

WAS THE CAPTURE OF FORT WILLIAM AND MARY THE FIRST 
OVERT ACT OF THE REVOLUTION ? 

There is no question that previous to Dec. 14, 1774, bodies 
of men had destroyed private property owing to their disap- 
proval of British methods, and in a few cases had even assaulted 
the royal power. But the capture of Fort William and Mary 
was the first organized fight of the Revolutionary War, and on 
Dec. 14, 1774, the first gun of that war was fired. It is true 
that on Dec. 5, 1774, the assembly of Rhode Island ordered 
the powder and shot in Fort George to be removed to a place 
of safety, and it is further true that it was done with the same 
intent and purpose, and undoubtedly influenced the subsequent 
action at Portsmouth. It was accomplished without opposition 
and was simply the confiscation of stores already in their pos- 
session. The taking of the schooner Gaspcc, eight guns, com- 
manded by Lieutenant Duddington, at Gaspee Point, R. I., on 
June g, 1772,- has been held to be the first assault against the 
crown, but erroneously, for it in nowise differs in principle from 
the act of firing upon the schooner St. John in July, 1764; ^ the 
seizure of \\\^ Maidstone s boat at Newport •* in May, 1765, or the 
scuttling of the British armed sloop Liberty at Newport, in 
1769.^ All were directed against the vessels of the British 
navy carrying the king's colors, but they were directed against 
the particular vessel that suffered .on account of real injuries to 
the participants or to the community, and not from' any uprising 
against the general authority of Great Britain. Arnold states 
in his account of the destruction of the Gaspee that "Lieut. 
Duddington, the commander, had practiced every arrogance 
upon vessels in the bay, detaining them often without a colora- 
ble pretext, stopping even market boats, and in some cases 
plundering people on shore." 

The "Battle of Alamance," in North Carolina, on May 16, 

'^Portsmouth Jotirnal oi May, 1S23; also N. II. Historical Society Collections, 
Vol. II, /. 195. 

2 Arnold's History of Rhode Island, /. 309. 
3/^«V, /. 252. * Ibid, p. 2yy ^'Ibid, f. 2()-;. 



20 

177 I, w^^ entirely of a local nature, and was fought between a 
band of so-called "regulators" and volunteer militia of their 
own province. Also, according to Hildreth (Hist, of U. S., Vol. 
II, /. 570), the regulators themselves became staunch supporters 
of the royal authority. The three and one half years interven- 
ing between this affair and that of William and Mary is sufficient 
in itself to separate it from the Revolutionary period. 

The opinion of Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, D.D., in regard to the 
capture of Fort William and Mary, is often well quoted in the 
words, " The daring character of this assault .cannot be over- 
estimated. It was an organized investment of a royal fortress, 
where the king's flag was flying, and where the king's garrison 
met them with muskets and artillery. It was four months be- 
fore Lexington, and Lexington was resistance to attack, while 
this was a deliberate assault. When the king heard of this cap- 
ture it so embittered him that all hope of concessions was at an 
end. It made war inevitable." 

Note.— Besides the references given in the text, articles of more or less value 
bearing on the capture of Fort William and Mary are quite numerous. They are 
generally more popular in character tlian historic. Tlie following will serve for refer- 
ence : 

McClintock's History of New Hampshire, / 29S. 

Barstow's History of New Hampshire,/. 231. 

History of Nottingham, N. H.,/. 120. 

History of Rockingham and Strafford Co., N. H.,/. Sov 

Pickering Genealogy, by Eddy Sup.,/. 4. 

Adams' Annals of Portsmoutli, N. H. 

N. E. Hist, and Gen. Keg., XXHI, /. y^? ; XXIV,/. 224; X.KXII./. 34. 

Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, XIV, /. 150. 

Amory's Life of General Sullivan,/, zu^. 

N. H. Revolutionary Rolls, Vol I,/. 3. 

judge Ebenezer Thompson, by M. P. Thompson,/. 25. 

Magazine of New England History, HI,/. 200. 

American Irish Historical Society, Vol. I,/. 34. 

Several articles in the Portsmouth, N. H., Joiiriia/ and Dover, N. H., Republican, 
by Miss Mary P. Thompson and Dr. .\lunzo H. Quint from September, 1S86, to 
February, 1S87. 

New Castle, Historical and Picturesque,/. 22. 

New York American Monthly Magazine, November, iSyi. 

Granite Monthly, article by Dr. A. H. Quint, Vol. I,/. 190. 

Granite Monthly, article by Hon. Geo. \V. Nesmith, Vol. I, /. 325. 

Granite Monthly, article by M. G. Colby, \'ol. \,p. 22. 

Proceedings N. H. Sons American Revolution, 1889-1S97,/. 78. 

E.Keter, N. H., Gazette, Sept. 17, 1886. 

Address Exeter, N. H., Quarter Millennial, 188S, by Hon. Charles H. Bell. 



30 

Harper^ s Magazine, July, iSS6. 

Neiv York Times, July, i8S6, by. M. P. Thompson. 

Springfield, Mass., Homestead, August 14, 1886. 

Dover, N. H., Enqtiircr, Sept. 17, 18S6. 

Portsmouth, N. H., Daily Penny Post, Dec. 17, 1S86. 

Concord, N. W.., Independent Statesman, Nov. 17, 18S7. 

Concord, N. H., People and Patriot, Feb. 23, 1S8S. 

Manchester Union, December, 1898. 

DedicJ^tion of Sullivan Monument at Durham, N. H., pub. \%C)(^. pp. 9, i ■;, 17, 18, 
27, 28, •j'^, 100, and 10;. 

.Spark's Life of Sullivan. 

Botta's History of the United States. 

Bryant's History of the United States. 

Bancroft's History of the United States. 

The First Parish in Dover, N. H., by Rev. A. H. Quint, D. D.,/. 27. 

The looth Anniversary of J^ational Independence, 1876, by Rev. A. H. Ouint, 
D. D.,/. 35. 

General Sullivan not a Pensioner of Lucerne, 1874,/. 4- 

General Sullivan not a Pensioner of Lucerne, 1875,/. 6. 

Wentworth Genealogy, Vol. I,/. 5^9. 



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